


cooperative polygraphy

by openhearts



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Episode: s05e04 Cooperative Polygraphy, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-01
Updated: 2015-07-01
Packaged: 2019-01-28 07:15:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12601188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/openhearts/pseuds/openhearts
Summary: "I don't know, if we'd gone through this last year it probably would have been a different story."





	cooperative polygraphy

**Author's Note:**

> Written in July 2015, whereafter it languished until now, the season of my self-imposed WIP finishing spree. There's not much to it but here it is. Thank you to Shannon for the readthrough as always.

In the bar parking lot Troy and Abed stand woodenly at either side of their car, silent. Britta and Shirley walk out arm-in-arm to Britta's car.

"Jeff?"

He turns and sees Annie jogging after him with her jacket, purse, and tiara in a messy bundle against her chest.

"Can I, um . . . I think they're gonna need some time," Annie motions over her shoulder to Troy and Abed, "would it be okay if-,"

"Come on," Jeff opens the passenger door of his Lexus for her and she immediately slides inside.

When he gets in on the driver side she's already buckled in, smoothing her coat out on her lap with the tiara set carefully on top of it. 

"Thanks Jeff."

"No problem. To be honest I didn't really feel like being by myself tonight."

"Oh, and you didn't already have someone coming over to add to your trophy drawer?"

Jeff rolls his eyes. 

"I said I'm single, not completely without a sense of decency." Annie's a little startled when he adds, "I don't know, if we'd gone through this last year it probably would have been a different story."

"What do you mean?"

"Don't tell anybody, but the single life gets old after a while. I'm not booking tickets to Disneyland," he continues, shooting her a teasing glance, "but uncommitted sex isn't actually the end-all-be-all of my existence anymore."

Annie's quiet, unsure what her response should be. 

"Well, congratulations," she says finally, a little too sarcastically. "Sorry," she adds quietly, "I'm tired, I didn't mean-"

"I know. It's okay."

They're quiet the rest of the way back, until Annie's standing up next to his car in the parking lot of his building, and Jeff appears in front of her. He squints down at her in the dark, folds his arms over his chest and stays there, blocking her between himself and the open car door.

"So. Since I have you here."

"What?" Annie asks a little warningly.

"You dosed us when we were studying for the Anthro final."

"Everyone except for Shirley."

"Well, good for you, you didn't drug a pregnant woman."

"Jeff, can we not-"

"Uh, no, we can't not. What the fuck, Annie? Slipping us drugs, sampling your drug rep samples? What's going on with you?"

"It's not a pattern, Anthro was two years ago."

"Not the point. Also not true."

"I didn't get where I am by cheating, Jeff, I got here by working as hard as I could and still not being good enough. I can do all the work, but that doesn't make me a genius."

"Annie, nobody at Greendale is a genius, if they were, they wouldn't be at Greendale. You take way too many classes at once. You ask for extra credit in all those classes. You have a job, while taking those classes. You tutor, you volunteer, you do dioramas that aren't even assigned. You're the exact opposite kind of shitty student as me, except instead of trying to do nothing because you're afraid of failing, you try to do everything because you're afraid of failing."

"At least I try."

"You don't get to say that! It's not noble to try so hard that you ruin yourself in the process! I could give you some bullshit about how my not trying is the truest, most honest choice but you'd know it was bullshit because you're smart enough to know the difference between the noise and the truth. Except when the noise gets you A-pluses and gold stars."

"You're drawing a circle," she mutters hoarsely, refusing to meet his eyes.

"I'm not a lawyer anymore."

"Certainly seems like you're trying your hand at prosecution."

"Don't do that," he sighs tiredly. "Don't make me the bad guy. I don't feel like playing that game tonight."

"Well I don't feel like playing this one."

"Fine. Just stop thinking nobody sees you. I see you."

"Sometimes I don't want you to."

"I know." 

Jeff reaches out and takes the tiara from her hands carefully. He looks at it for a moment, then sets it gingerly on her head, tucking the combs into her hair and lets his hands fall to her arms. Annie leans into him, lets her head rest on his chest and sighs. 

"He could be so sweet sometimes," she says softly.

"Yeah, sometimes."

"Do you think Troy will really leave?"

Jeff takes a breath and wraps his arms around her shoulders. "I think so."

"Everything's changing," she adds in a whisper.

"Yeah it is." Jeff squeezes her tighter then lets go and slides a hand down her arm to thread their fingers together. "Come on, come inside."

Annie closes their hands a little tighter together and follows him.

When they get to his door and he holds his hand out again, after letting go to unlock the door, Annie stands still for a moment and stares up at him.

"I'm not leaving anything here."

"Huh?"

She shakes her hair back and squares her shoulders. 

"For your trophy collection," she clarifies.

Jeff's face blanches. 

"That's not what I was bringing you here for. You asked me if you could come over, why would-"

"Fine fine," she holds her hands up to cut him off and steps over the threshold, defeated. "Just saying."

They stand awkwardly just inside the door until he leans around her to push the door closed.

"I'm gonna go wash my face. Make yourself at home," he mutters before disappearing into the bathroom. 

Annie knocks herself in the forehead with the heel of her hand once, knocking the tiara crooked. She pulls it off and tries to smooth her hair back down and manages to be tucked into one corner of the couch with her cell phone in hand when Jeff comes out of the bathroom and comes over to collapse next to her. His hair is wet in front and spikier than usual. It feels natural to reach over to play with it, or it would have if she hadn't brought up his collection of "forgotten items", or maybe it never would have and she's delirious from the emotional whiplash. 

Jeff continues flipping through the guide on his TV. Annie doesn't reach out.

_


End file.
